1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a banquet table, and more particularly to a plastic tabletop with a longitudinal mid-support arrangement for a foldable table, wherein the longitudinal mid-support arrangement is supported within the plastic tabletop at a mid-portion thereof for substantially enhancing the strength of the tabletop and the leg assembly in a foldably movable manner.
2. Description of Related Arts
Banquet tables have become very popular since the tables are economy, cheap and foldable that can be quickly and easily folded for carriage and storage and unfolded for use. Especially when some participant-intensive activities take place in multi-function rooms or designated areas, the banquet tables can be temporary set up in minutes. After the functions, the banquet tables can be quickly and neatly folded up for storage.
A conventional banquet table comprises a tabletop and a pair of table legs foldable mounted underneath the tabletop. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,061 generally suggests a banquet table that two table legs are pivotally mounted at two opposed side end portions of the tabletop. Since the two table legs support the tabletop at two side end portions thereof, when a downward loading force is applied on the tabletop, a mid-portion of the tabletop may be cracked easily. In order to enhance the rigid structure of the banquet table, the tabletop must be made of stiffness material such as wood or metal. However, the wooden or metal tabletop will increase the overall weight of the banquet table that reduces the portability of the banquet table.
In order to enhance the portability of the banquet table, the tabletop is made of lightweight material such as plastic. One of the common technologies to manufacture the tabletop is known as the plastic “air-blow” molding technique. Therefore, the overall weight of the banquet table will be substantially reduced by the plastic tabletop. However, such banquet table having the plastic tabletop has several drawbacks.
The strength of such plastic tabletop is weak that the mid-portion of the plastic tabletop may be cracked easily due to the downward loading force. Accordingly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,092 generally suggests a banquet table generally comprises a plastic made top panel, two metal made side runners longitudinally mounted under the top panel, and a metal made reinforcing arm transversely mounted below a mid-portion of the top panel 1 between the two side runners to substantially increase the strength of the top panel.
In addition, in order to foldably attach the table leg to the tabletop, the table leg comprises a standing leg rotatably mounted between the side runners and a folding leg pivotally mounted between the standing leg and the reinforcing arm such that the standing leg is capable of pivotally folding under the top panel of the tabletop. As a result, the reinforcing arm not only enhances the strength of the top panel but also rigidly supports the table leg in a foldable manner. In other words, the plastic tabletop must include the reinforcing arm in order to form the banquet table.
However, the reinforcing arm restricts the pivotally attaching position of the folding leg. Since the reinforcing arm is transversely mounted at the middle of the tabletop, the folding leg must be long enough to pivotally extend from the standing leg to the reinforcing arm, which may weaken the strength of the folding leg.